Introduction

It's been a very chilly summer in New England and I have been craving onion soup to kill that chill. BUT, I wanted to avoid all the fat (cheese), bread, & excessive sodium that invariably comes with a good onion soup. Since I was going to cut out the best part (IMHO) of the onion soup, I really wanted a soup that had some body to it but would be low in calories and add much needed fiber, vitamins & minerals. This soup turned out very hearty and fully satisfied my craving. Although the sodium content isn't as low as I wanted it to be, I had to use up the box of beef broth that had been sitting in my cupboard. Next time I will look for a lower sodium broth. For those of you that aren't watching your sodium intake, you may find that you need to add more salt to the dish.

If measuring out all the seasonings is too much of a bother, you can use 1 tsp of Herbs du Provence. I misplaced my bottle so I used the other herbs in it's place (excluding rosemary because it isn't one of my favs).

This can easily be made into a vegetarian dish by substituting vegetable broth for the beef broth, two Morningstar Farms sausage links (or any other vegetarian "sausage" you prefer) for the turkey sausage.

For those of you that miss the cheese, try sprinkling on one or two tablespoons of grated parmesan. Just don't forget to include it in your daily nutrition calculations.

FYI, I couldn't find nutrtional info for Escarole. Since it is considered to be part of the endive family, I substituted endive when I calculated the nutritional values.
It's been a very chilly summer in New England and I have been craving onion soup to kill that chill. BUT, I wanted to avoid all the fat (cheese), bread, & excessive sodium that invariably comes with a good onion soup. Since I was going to cut out the best part (IMHO) of the onion soup, I really wanted a soup that had some body to it but would be low in calories and add much needed fiber, vitamins & minerals. This soup turned out very hearty and fully satisfied my craving. Although the sodium content isn't as low as I wanted it to be, I had to use up the box of beef broth that had been sitting in my cupboard. Next time I will look for a lower sodium broth. For those of you that aren't watching your sodium intake, you may find that you need to add more salt to the dish.

If measuring out all the seasonings is too much of a bother, you can use 1 tsp of Herbs du Provence. I misplaced my bottle so I used the other herbs in it's place (excluding rosemary because it isn't one of my favs).

This can easily be made into a vegetarian dish by substituting vegetable broth for the beef broth, two Morningstar Farms sausage links (or any other vegetarian "sausage" you prefer) for the turkey sausage.

For those of you that miss the cheese, try sprinkling on one or two tablespoons of grated parmesan. Just don't forget to include it in your daily nutrition calculations.

FYI, I couldn't find nutrtional info for Escarole. Since it is considered to be part of the endive family, I substituted endive when I calculated the nutritional values.

Directions

The day before you make this soup, cook the lentils. Rinse one cup of dried lentils well, ensuring you pick out any foreign matter. In a 2 quart saucepan, mix 2 cups of the broth with 2 cups of water. Bring to low boil. Mix in lentils, reduce heat to simmer and cover pot loosely so that the steam can escape and the pot doesn't boil over. Cook on simmer for 20 to 30 minutes. The lentils should be soft, puffed up, and have a soup consistency. Shut off heat, cover pot and let cool off. Place in a container in frig overnight. During the night, the lentils will soak up any remaining liquid.

The next day, in a 4 quart non-stick saucepan or dutch oven, melt the 1/2 tsp of "butter" and cook turkey sausage (turning over once) enough so that the outside skin hardens enabling you to dice it later. (If you use a pre-cooked turkey or chicken sausage, you can skip this step and cut out the 1/2 tsp of "butter"). Remove sausage to small plate and let cool off.

Chop up the two onions and throw into the pot. Add the 1 tablespoon "butter." Mix well, coating onions thoroughly, and saute on medium/low heat for about 5 minutes. While that is cooking, press the garlic & dice up the sausage. After the onions have cooked for 5 minutes, mix in garlic and sausage, cover pot, and cook an additional 5 minutes, until the sausage is throughly cooked through and the onions are transparent and limp.

While the soup is cooking, chop up the escarole. Just use the green top portion, throw away the white heart. After the 15 minutes is up, add the escarole, recover pot, and cook for another 10 to 15 minutes.